GP2 Asia championship leader Kamui Kobayashi took a step closer to securing the title by taking pole position for the first race of this weekend's finale in Bahrain.

The Japanese driver only set the second quickest time in the qualifying session, behind his DAMS teammate Jerome D'Ambrosio, but will start from the front because D'Ambrosio has to serve a 10-place grid penalty from his black flag in the last race in Malaysia.

D'Ambrosio's penalty not only gives Kobayashi pole, but also the two points that come with it, edging him closer to claiming the series crown.

Piquet GP's drivers repeated their front-running form from the day's earlier practice session and Roldan Rodriguez and Diego Nunes will start tomorrow's first race from second and third.

Pastor Maldonado (ART), Luiz Razia (Arden) and Giedo van der Garde (iSport) complete the first three rows of the grid.

Vitaly Petrov's already slim title chances were all but erased when, after completing just two laps in practice, he qualified 20th.

RESULTS:
Pos Driver                 Team           Time          Gap

 1. Jerome D'Ambrosio      DAMS           1m43.752s

 2. Kamui Kobayashi        DAMS           1m43.863s  +0.111

 3. Roldan Rodríguez       Piquet         1m43.910s  +0.158

 4. Diego Nunes            Piquet         1m44.014s  +0.262

 5. Pastor Maldonado       ART            1m44.101s  +0.349

 6. Luiz Razia             Arden          1m44.141s  +0.389

 7. Giedo van der Garde    iSport         1m44.174s  +0.422

 8. Davide Valsecchi       Durango        1m44.310s  +0.558

 9. Javier Villa           Super Nova     1m44.319s  +0.567

10. Alvaro Parente         Meritus        1m44.321s  +0.569

11. Karun Chandhok         Ocean          1m44.472s  +0.720

12. Marco Bonanomi         Meritus        1m44.477s  +0.725

13. Sergio Perez           Barwa          1m44.546s  +0.794

14. James Jakes            Super Nova     1m44.552s  +0.800

15. Davide Rigon           Trident        1m44.649s  +0.897

16. Hamad Al-Fardan        iSport         1m44.673s  +0.921

17. Sakon Yamamoto         ART            1m44.705s  +0.953

18. Rodolfo Gonzalez       FMS            1m44.747s  +0.995

19. Edoardo Mortara        Arden          1m44.864s  +1.112

20. Vitaly Petrov          Barwa          1m44.879s  +1.127

21. Michael Herck          DPR            1m44.921s  +1.169

22. Giacomo Ricci          DPR            1m45.676s  +1.924

23. Fabio Crestani         Ocean          1m45.837s  +2.085

24. Kevin Chen             FMS            1m46.428s  +2.676

25. Ricardo Teixeira       Trident        1m46.485s  +2.733

26. Michael Della Stelle   Durango        1m46.702s  +2.950